CHS
Back Yard

Standing in line with family and friends on a crowded midway to attend a circus performance can leave a lasting impression on many people. What was the first circus that you attended?

Photo courtesy of the Milner Library at Illinois State University.

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Clyde Beatty carried me in to his show in 1945.  I was a year and half old and don't remember but I have a picture to prove it.

Ringling Bros. In Champaign IL. I was 4 or 5 and still have Backlot photos dad took of Gunther and shots from the performance. Peoria Civic Center didn't yet exist so we drove an hour and a half with my maternal grandparents to see them. My sister was taken down as a "Clown"

Hamid-Morton/Tripoli Shrine about 54 or 55 on a school field trip. Milwaukee Arena.

I know the answer for my father, Bruce L Johnson.  He saw the Coles Bros Circus on July 10, 1942 in Holdrege Nebraska.  His grandfather had a store downtown.  His grandfather was the third person to earn an optometrist license in the state of Nebraska.  There weren't enough people needing glasses to be able to support his family so he also had a clock repair business in the same store front.  He gave my father a ticket to the show that he got for free because he let them bill the front of his store.  He lived in an apartment above the store, and my father watched the parade from there.  For the rest of his life, my father talked about his memory of seeing Otto Griebling and Freddy Freeman performing their boxing act.  The clowns and elephants remained his all time favorite circus acts.